Final Fantasy 14 chocobos getting Behemoth-inspired armor

By Michael Jamias

Chocobos, the iconic mounts of the Final Fantasy rpg games, will take a turn for the ferocious in Final Fantasy 14 when they don armor inspired by the legendary beast Behemoth.

In a past developer blog, Final Fantasy 14 producer Naoki Yoshida had already revealed preliminary artwork that showed the chocobo in garbed in threatening, spiky armor. Forum moderator Fernehalwes added more hype to the flame by revealing a render screenshot which shows just how the Behemoth-plated chocobo will look in the actual MMO.

“While my trusty partner ‘M’ lured a lonely designer from his workstation with a wink and some tasty chocolate, I snuck in from behind and snapped this revealing pic,” said Fernehalwes:

“At this stage in development, the armor still appears to be lacking textures, but if I’m not mistaken, those horns have an uncanny resemblance to the ones found on a certain legendary beast spotted atop a snow-capped peak in a recent FINAL FANTASY XIV trailer. Now what was his name again? Bahoo... Bahi... Behemmmm...my! Would you look at the time!” added Fernehalwes.

The sneak peak had players guessing on how the chocobo armor might be obtained. Some said it could be a rare drop from Behemoth, which has been speculated to make an appearance in the mmo when it re-launches as Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn. Others though remain more skeptical, waiting with bated breath whether the armor will actually raise the stats of chocobo mounts instead of just being a “fluff” vanity item.